Grave Robbers
The village burns, and here I stand, here I watch my Pride do his work well. Venture too close to our secrets, learn too much, and poor forsaken soul, beware. I bring the wrath of God upon thee, and wield the very one who once defied me as a weapon of blood and bone, your sins embodied and without a soul.
This one looks familiar somehow, the alchemist girl with black-night hair and deep-blue eyes. "Pitiful little creature, your electric alchemy won't harm him. Just stop fighting and give in as his hands run over your hair and pull hard enough on that braid to make your scalp bleed. It won't hurt long if you will yourself dead, but the stubborn ones like you have a hard time with that, don't you? Ah, well, more fun for my Pride."
"Keep fighting, kicking, screaming, as he bites that fair neck of yours with his razor teeth... He's only going for the jugular. You'll probably bleed out before he's done dismembering you, so don't cry so terribly as the bones of you arms creak and snap. He's like a dog with a new toy, really, once he chews up one part beyond recognition he'll get bored and move along."
"Really, you are lucky... He has a tendency to keep the girls in one piece, more or less. You saw what he did to your general, with the arms and legs torn off and the face ripped away and smashed. I saw that you didn't even attempt to save him. Perhaps you should think of this as a penance for your lack of pity."
"What is your name, anyways? Your rank, girl, I asked you something, don't get so distracted by a little pain in the ribcage. A major, I can tell from your coat over there, but that face, so defiant, there's something almost haunting about it." You choke as I rip the chain of your tags off your neck, the metal chafing along the back of your throat. "Not that it really matters, Major Mustang... Brenna Mustang, you say? I can't help but laugh at this, so don't be offended- or perhaps you should be. Do you know why I'm laughing at you?"
"We were the ones that killed your brother, Brenna... I don't really like how that sounds, girl, should I call you something else? Of course, I shouldn't get so attached to pets while I'm letting Pride kill them." Telling my Pride to wait, I step forward, I grab you by your hair and lift you up, face to face with me as I crouch on the bloodied floor.
"The color of your own blood looks lovely beside your fair skin, you know, you should wear the color more often. You try to bring your brother back, and what do you get for it, besides a beating from us and a toll from the gate. You lost your entire spine to have it replaced with automail. You even robbed a grave to get his remains to transmutate. Isn't that called larceny by the State? Oh, I like that... I found my name for you, Larceny, but don't look so annoyed, you only have a few minutes left until you run out of blood. Who knows, I might take a liking to you before then and kill you quickly before it gets hard to breathe."
"Pride, don't look so crestfallen, you can kill someone else later. Now, Larceny-" I slam my fist into your face as you spit onto my cheek, sending you flying back a good four feet with the force of the blow. "Bitch, you don't want to make me angry. Larceny, Larceny, if I take this off, what will I see..." The baggy overshirt is hiding a sleeveless shirt, and a scar traces all down your back where they implanted the automail. One finger is all it takes, and I slice down slowly, tracing the old wound to reopen the flesh.
"Top to bottom, or bottom to top? It's your choice, you know, so don't be shy. What happens if I smash this one, here..." That scream as the wires short and send mixed signals to all your nerve endings, it's almost as though you enjoy this. Another, and another, until the majority of the mechanical vertebrae are destroyed and you lay on the floor, gasping as the lack of blood in your system has every muscle starving for oxygen and your heart racing to put what little is left through the doomed circulatory system. "Too bad you have to die so soon, and I was starting to take a liking to you."
"You remind me of one of our sisters, the youngest, you know... Even your poor ex-brother Perjury is about six months older than she is. She cries and screams just like you, except I have more fun with her because she can go through a little game like this and come back for more within few days. It's hard not to anticipate her doing something wrong just so I can hear her pained cries and pleading..."
"Larceny?" I shake you slightly, sensing something wrong as I return from reminiscing off on my own. You don't respond, of course. Bled to death, stupid girl. "I might have let you just stay dead and rest in peace if you hadn't been so rebellious, but I've rather taken a liking to you. Father is looking for a new experiment... Don't look so dismal and pale, it doesn't suit you. Larceny!"
Pride stands there, his usual drone-like self, face passive. "Nii-san, she's dead already..." I grit my teeth angrily. I know you can still hear me, no matter how insane the others say I am. I hoist you bloody corpse over my shoulder as I stand, the blood from your various injuries rubbing off onto my skin. "Come on, Pride! I'm bored of being here now."
This one looks familiar somehow, the alchemist girl with black-night hair and deep-blue eyes. "Pitiful little creature, your electric alchemy won't harm him. Just stop fighting and give in as his hands run over your hair and pull hard enough on that braid to make your scalp bleed. It won't hurt long if you will yourself dead, but the stubborn ones like you have a hard time with that, don't you? Ah, well, more fun for my Pride."
"Keep fighting, kicking, screaming, as he bites that fair neck of yours with his razor teeth... He's only going for the jugular. You'll probably bleed out before he's done dismembering you, so don't cry so terribly as the bones of you arms creak and snap. He's like a dog with a new toy, really, once he chews up one part beyond recognition he'll get bored and move along."
"Really, you are lucky... He has a tendency to keep the girls in one piece, more or less. You saw what he did to your general, with the arms and legs torn off and the face ripped away and smashed. I saw that you didn't even attempt to save him. Perhaps you should think of this as a penance for your lack of pity."
"What is your name, anyways? Your rank, girl, I asked you something, don't get so distracted by a little pain in the ribcage. A major, I can tell from your coat over there, but that face, so defiant, there's something almost haunting about it." You choke as I rip the chain of your tags off your neck, the metal chafing along the back of your throat. "Not that it really matters, Major Mustang... Brenna Mustang, you say? I can't help but laugh at this, so don't be offended- or perhaps you should be. Do you know why I'm laughing at you?"
"We were the ones that killed your brother, Brenna... I don't really like how that sounds, girl, should I call you something else? Of course, I shouldn't get so attached to pets while I'm letting Pride kill them." Telling my Pride to wait, I step forward, I grab you by your hair and lift you up, face to face with me as I crouch on the bloodied floor.
"The color of your own blood looks lovely beside your fair skin, you know, you should wear the color more often. You try to bring your brother back, and what do you get for it, besides a beating from us and a toll from the gate. You lost your entire spine to have it replaced with automail. You even robbed a grave to get his remains to transmutate. Isn't that called larceny by the State? Oh, I like that... I found my name for you, Larceny, but don't look so annoyed, you only have a few minutes left until you run out of blood. Who knows, I might take a liking to you before then and kill you quickly before it gets hard to breathe."
"Pride, don't look so crestfallen, you can kill someone else later. Now, Larceny-" I slam my fist into your face as you spit onto my cheek, sending you flying back a good four feet with the force of the blow. "Bitch, you don't want to make me angry. Larceny, Larceny, if I take this off, what will I see..." The baggy overshirt is hiding a sleeveless shirt, and a scar traces all down your back where they implanted the automail. One finger is all it takes, and I slice down slowly, tracing the old wound to reopen the flesh.
"Top to bottom, or bottom to top? It's your choice, you know, so don't be shy. What happens if I smash this one, here..." That scream as the wires short and send mixed signals to all your nerve endings, it's almost as though you enjoy this. Another, and another, until the majority of the mechanical vertebrae are destroyed and you lay on the floor, gasping as the lack of blood in your system has every muscle starving for oxygen and your heart racing to put what little is left through the doomed circulatory system. "Too bad you have to die so soon, and I was starting to take a liking to you."
"You remind me of one of our sisters, the youngest, you know... Even your poor ex-brother Perjury is about six months older than she is. She cries and screams just like you, except I have more fun with her because she can go through a little game like this and come back for more within few days. It's hard not to anticipate her doing something wrong just so I can hear her pained cries and pleading..."
"Larceny?" I shake you slightly, sensing something wrong as I return from reminiscing off on my own. You don't respond, of course. Bled to death, stupid girl. "I might have let you just stay dead and rest in peace if you hadn't been so rebellious, but I've rather taken a liking to you. Father is looking for a new experiment... Don't look so dismal and pale, it doesn't suit you. Larceny!"
Pride stands there, his usual drone-like self, face passive. "Nii-san, she's dead already..." I grit my teeth angrily. I know you can still hear me, no matter how insane the others say I am. I hoist you bloody corpse over my shoulder as I stand, the blood from your various injuries rubbing off onto my skin. "Come on, Pride! I'm bored of being here now."